Feeler tip



oct. 13, 1925. 1556,@16

H. A. DAVIS FEELER TIP Film1 Febq 2, 1925 Patented Oct. 13, 1925.

UNITED STATES l i y 1,556,816 PATENT carica.

HARRY A. DAVIS, 0F HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOCR. '10 DRAPER CORPORA- I TION, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 0F MAINE.

FEELER TIP.

Application led February 2, 1925. SerialI No. 6,292.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. DAvrs. a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hopedale, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in FeelerTips, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to filling feelers for looms and more particularly to the tip of such feelers. y

It is now the common practice to provide filling feelers with a toothed filling engaging end or tip and in some cases the teeth have been formed transversely of the p feeler in a diagonal direction, while in others the teeth have been formed straight across the filling end of the feeler. The purpose of such teeth is to hold the filling feeler from premature movement along the filling carrier to call for a change of filling. Since the same loom mayhave different kinds or characters of filling used therein at different times, it is desirable that the same feeler may have filling engaging teeth which are suitable. for cooperation with the different kinds of filling employed in the loom. For instance, when the filling is of coarse count and loosely spun, the teeth of the feeler tip may be of' one character or construction to properly cooperate therewith, whereas, when the filling is of finer count or of harder twisted yarn the teeth of the feeler should be of a different character or construction.

One of the important 'features of the present invention, therefore, is to provide' the feeler with a tip which shall have along its filling engaging portion a series of teeth which differ from each other in their construction, so that one series of such teeth may properly cooperate with one kind or character of filling and another series of teeth may cooperate with a different kind or character of filling, so that regardless of the kind or character of the filling employed, the samejfeeler may be utilized effectively in cooperation therewith.

In accordance with o-ne feature of the present invention, the feeler tip is provided with a plurality of horizontal rows of teeth whereinfthe individualteeth of o-ne row are of an adjacent row. Thus the teeth of thevarious rows may be so contrasted in construction as to cooperate with any kind or character of filling employed'. The staggered relation of lthe individual teeth is advantageously utilized to produce an an-V gular effect of the teeth, either one way or the other, and the holding surface thus presented to the filling is of a broken nature; affording greater gripping eect.

The invention and the various novel features thereof' may best be made clear from the following description and the accompanying drawings of one good form thereof.

In the drawings: y

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a feeler having a tip constructed in accordance with the present invention;

F1g.`2 is a perspective end view enlarged of the feeler tip and showing more particularly the teeth of the several rows formed of different gage; i

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the feeler tip shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of thefeeler i tifp showing l,a slightly modified` form there- 0 Fig. 5 is a similar viewcof still another modification; and

Fig. 6 is an end view and a further modification of a feeler tip and teeth arrangement.

The feeler may be of usual construction and as shown is of the side swipe type similar in this respecty to the feeler now employed in certain feeler mechanisms.

The feeler 1 as shown has abridgevportion 2 and side wing portions 3, while a frontwardly extending stem portion 4 is utilized for supporting a spring, not shown, which normally acts, as usual, to hold the feeler in its rearward feeling position. The parts so far described may be of usual construction.

The feeler 1 has a filling engagin or tip portion provided with a series o filling engaging teeth, the teeth of the series being arrange as shown, diagonally of the feeler tip. The feeler tip is preferably formed of non-metallic material, such as fibroid or the like and is 111959 uP @.f two or 11101@ Parts,

`each of `which has a series of horizontal teeth formed thereon. These parts are secured to the feeler 1 so that the projecting teeth offer a filling engaging and holding device for lengagement with the filling on detecting eats.

In the form of the invention herein shdwn, the. end portion 5 of the feeler 1 has a slot 6 extending transversely thereof in a horizontal direction, the word .horizontal being'used, of course, in the sense that when the feeler is in operative position, the slot normally assumes a substantially horizontal position.

4The feeler tip is shown in the present instance as formed of three separate parts, 7, 8 and 9, each of which may be formed of the same or different material, and one of these parts, 7 in the present instance, has a portion 10 which extends into the slot 6 of the feeler end 5 and is there secured by means of a bolt 11. Each of the other members of the feeler tip has an engaging shoulder 12 which lies against the end portion 18 of the feeler end, and these parts or members, 8 and 9, are secured to the central member 7 by means of bolts 14 which are passed through the three members. This manner of mounting the several members of the feeler tip upon the feeler end is a convenient and good practical form of the present invention., but in its broader aspect the invention is not necessarily limited to these details.

Each of the feeler members 7, 8 and 9 is provided with a series of teeth, as indicated in the several figures of the drawing, and when the several members of the feeler tip are secured together, the teeth are arranged in a checker-board or staggered relation, as

indicated.

As indicated inFig. 2, the teeth 15 formed in the upper member 9 of the feeler tip are relatively large, that is, their filling engaging surface 16 is more blunt than the corresponding surfaces of the teeth of the4 other members of the feeler tip. The teeth 17 on the center member 7 of the feeler tip Iare of less width than the teeth 15, that is, they are of a different gage, while the'teeth 18 of the lower member 8 of the feeler tip are yet of Smaller width or different gage than the teeth 17 of the central member.

`Not only are the teeth 15, 17 and 18 of different gage, but the individual teeth of 'each horizontal row of teeth are staggered if the filling is of very coarse and large` character, the larger and more blunt teeth 15 of the upper member of the feeler tip may appropriately function to hold the feeler from side slipping movement, wherewhereas, the intermediate series 21 o as, if the filling be of somewhat finer count or harder twisted, the teeth 17 ofthe central portion of the feeler tipmay function effectively, while if the yarn be of still finer count and hard twisted, the smaller gage teeth 18 may effectively function to prevent premature side swipe movement of the feeler.

With the separate teeth of the individual rows of teeth arranged in staggered relation, the filling engaging surface is of course broken transversely, that is, in a vertical dlrection of the feeler tip, thus offering a greater gripping effect upon the filling.

In Fig. 3 the different gages of the filling engaging teeth shown by Fig. 2 are more clearly illustrated.

In the modification shown by Fig. 4, the series of teeth 19 of the upper member of the feeler tip 'and the lower horizontal series of teeth 20 ofthe lower member of the feeler tip are of substantially the same age, the central member of the feeler tip, are of finer gage than either.

In the modification shown by Fig. 5, the reverse arrangement from that effected in Fig. 2 is illustrated, that is, the lower teeth 22 ofthe lower member of the feeler tip are of larger gage thanthe intermediate row of feeler teeth 23, while the upper row 24 of the feeler -teeth are of still smaller gage.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6, the teeth 25 of each of the horizontal rows of teeth' are shown of the same ygage and -instead of having all ofl the individual teeth of the several rows of teeth in staggered relation, this modification shows the teeth of the several `rows at one'point, as at 26, arranged in a straight line across the end of thefeeler tip. The teeth 25 of the modification shown in Fig. 6 are staggered in one direction, while the teeth 25 at the opposite side of the straight row 26 are staggered in the opposite direction.

From the above description of the present invention, it will be apparent that by forming the feeler tip of a plurality of separate members, each having a series of i horizontal teeth,not only can the series of teeth transversely of the feeler tipbe formed of different gage to cooperate with different kinds or characters of filling, but the individual teethI of the several rows of teeth may be staggered in either direction relative to the teeth of an adjacent row thus adapting the same feeler tip for use with various kinds or characters ,of filling. Indeed, the gage of the severa-l rows of teeth may be widely diiferent some of which may penetrate the filling employed, while others would not penetrate sufficiently to prevent side swipe movement of the feeler.

As will be noted from the descri tion of the presentinvention, th'e tip as s own is formed of three different members or layers, each formed either ofthe same or different' material, and each provided with a row ofA teeth which are made in the members before the members are assembled, so that the size or gage of the teeth or points, as well as the spacing thereof, may be made of such variety that the feeler tip thus constructed will co operate more effectively with filling of different counts or degrees of twist than feeler tips having the plain crosswise teeth extendfrom top to botto-m of the feeler. A

What is claimed is: i

1; A filling feeler to detect the condition of the filling inv the `shuttle having a tip provided with a plurality of relatively fixed and closely arranged horizont-al rows of filling engaging teeth7 the individual teeth of one horizontal row being arranged 1n a d1fferent vert-ical plane relative to the individual teeth of the adjacent fixed horizontall row to cooperate with different kinds of filling.

2. A filling feeler to detect the condition of the filling in the shuttle having a tip provided with fixed horizontal rows of teeth of'different gage and the teeth of one horizontal row being arranged in different vertical planes relative to the-individual teeth of the adjacent row that the teeth of the different horizontal rows and gage may cooperate with different kinds of filling.

3. A filling feeler to detect the condition of the filling in the shuttle having a tip portion provided with horizontal rows of fixed teeth in which the teeth of one horizontal row are separated a greater distance from each other than are the teeth of another row and are arranged in different vertical planes relative to the teeth of the other row to cooperate with different kinds of filling.

4. A filling feeler to detect the condition of the filling in the shuttle having a` tip portion provided with horizontal rows of fixed teeth of different gage in which the teeth oi one horizontal row are separated a greater distance from each other than are the teeth of another row and are arranged in different vertical planes relative to the teeth of the other row to cooperate with different kinds of filling.

5. A feeler having a tip provided with a plurality of horizontal rows of teeth, the teeth of each row being of different gage fromA the teeth of an adjacent ro-w to cooperate with different kinds of filling and staggered relatively thereto transversely of the feeler.

6. A feeler pro-vided with a tip formed of a central member having a series of separate filling engaging teeth and secured to the end of the feeler, and upper and lower members each provided with a row of teeth and secured one at each side of the cent-ral member with the teeth of the adjacent rows in staggered relation to cooperate with different kinds of filling.

7. A feeler provided with a feeler tip comprising a member having a rowr of teeth and secured tothe end of the feeler and a second member having a row of teeth of different gage secured at one side of the first mentioned member with the teeth of the rows in staggered relation.

8. A feeler provided with a feeler tip comprising a central member having a row of teeth and secured to the end of the feeler and upper and lower members each having a row of teeth and secured one at each side of the central member the teeth of the three members being arranged in staggered relation.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

HARRY A. DAVIS. 

